Purpose of trip: A business trip
Disclaimer: I (Pensacolaguy) wrote all the technical details for this trip report, but I myself did not take this trip. Trip was taken by my good friend.
Total Trip Cost: $427.99 USD
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Delta Airlines 226
Pensacola(PNS)-Atlanta(ATL)
February 8, 2005
MD-88 N996DL New Colors

Delta is serious about getting off the gate on-time. The way they do that
is by continual p.a. announcements badgering pax to get seated quickly.
You almost expected them to say, "Hurry up, people!" like a Catholic school
nun. According to my watch we left on-time although the official record
says different. Our clearance was given:DL226 cleared to Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson airport as filed, climb and maintain 3,000 expect FL270 10 minutes after departure, departure frequency is 119.00 squawk 3767, wheels up time of 2015z, can go five minutes before or after. Taxied to runway 17, and took off. Turned left and direct east of Montgomery climbed to FL270 with a groundspeed of 470kts. And then turned right and then direct La Grange. Landed ATL heading westward.

Flight was delayed, waiting for the inbound crew, who had just arrived on
another flight. Everyone seemed very cheerful, yet sincerely apologetic
about the delay. Not much room in coach on a 757 (no surprise there),
crammed against window by overweight seatmate. Captain apologetically
announced that despite our late departure, Dulles Approach was routing us
way around to the north so we would land to the south, increasing our time
enroute. Sitcom showing on the t.v. screens, which did not all work properly. It's a loooooong way from gate to baggage claim at Dulles, a
very long walk, up escalators, down escalators, then up and down again.
Not really well thought-out. Terminal signage not very clear, either.

Service: Fine
Seat Comfort: Again, typical coach-class seat pitch-uncomfortable but okay
for the short flight.
Food/Drink: None (Who needs half a Coke?)
Load Factor: Must have been full, crammed in like sardines.

Gate changed from C24 to G8 but they made an announcement about it. The
flight was delayed due to a maintenance issue. They didn't tell us what the
issue was. Terminal G is like a big, converted hangar no windows to look
out of, and you can hear all the announcements throughout the terminal.
Very noisy, uncomfortable place to spend any time. More like an old bus
station.Three other flights were also delayed because of "maintenance issues" and two were delayed "awaiting crews." United and United Express personnel
were very uncommunicative, unhelpful and snippy. Many had such thick
accents that their p.a. announcements were indecipherable. Overheard was
the cop-out, "Well, this isn't United, it's United Express, a different company."

By 10:30 a.m. they were giving out meal vouchers (not a good sign). By
11:00 there was no point in even going to IND anymore, as my 12:30 meeting
was now missed and had to be rescheduled for another day. At the Customer
Service counter, the only agent present was too preoccupied with a complicated personal phone call to deal with me. When she was finally
finished (fifteen minutes later) she had trouble re-routing me back to
Pensacola that day. She was so confused and took so long that they finally
called my original flight. I asked if I could get my checked baggage off
the airplane and she said, "No way." So I said I would just get on it and
go to IND.

The Flight Attendant greeted passengers with a chipper, "How are you
today!" knowing full-well that we'd all just been waiting in that God-awful
terminal for four hours. None of us were very happy campers. The FA also
had his shirt collar unbuttoned and his tie loosened and was chewing gum
for the entire flight. Very unprofessional.

Since there are no meal facilities in Terminal G, many passengers left to
Terminal C and were therefore not available when the flight boarded at
11:40. So we waited while checked-in pax came back. Captain came on p.a.
and informed us that we had discovered yet another maintenance issue that
needed to be fixed. While we sat there, another United Express/Trans
States Airlines ERJ arrived and departed.

Left gate at 12:30, took-off at 12:42pm. ERJ seats are the most
uncomfortable I've ever experienced. Sitting in one for more than 1.5
hours is pure pain. Landed Indianapolis at 2:08pm, their was a United
airlines 737 with winglets sitting on the runway with emergency vehicles
around it and a local news helicopter hovering above. (If anyone has info
on this incident please speak up) It was very disappointing flying with
United. No wonder they're in bankruptcy protection. "United...it's time to
fly"...maybe.

Service: Miserable. Seat Comfort: Excruciating
Food/Drink: Soda offered/None taken
Load Factor: Empty because most other passengers wisely decided to fly with
other carriers/flights

Main terminal at IND seriously overcrowded. Only two (slow) lines through
security (hey, everybody's a terrorist!). Took off heading southward.
Climbed to an altitude of only 23,000ft. With a ground speed of 463kts. And
directed to bowling Green, KY then Murfreesboro, TN, with a ground speed
of 472kts. Then cruised just west of South Pittsburgh. Begun are descent just
north of Rome, GA. Directed Peachtree, GA. Then turned hard right and
landed 26R at ATL in formation with an ATR-72 landing on the left side

Lots of traffic at ATL this morning. Pilot had to do S-turns on final due
to slower traffic ahead. Flight was scheduled next to depart to GSO.

Aircraft arrived from MSP. Quick flight. Delta is serious about getting
off the gate on-time. For some odd reason the flight number was changed to
Delta Airlines flight 9177. Took-off and climbed to an altitude of 24,000ft
with a ground speed of 460kts. Headed south east of La Grange. Turned and
directed Clayton, AL, then CEW. Contacted Pensacola Approach on 119.00, and turned right heading 270, descended 3,000 and landed on the visual runway 35 at PNS. Aircraft was in the old colors.

Quoting Pensacolaguy (reply 0):Landed Indianapolis at 2:08pm, their was a United
airlines 737 with winglets sitting on the runway with emergency vehicles
around it and a local news helicopter hovering above

Is this a typo? UA doesn't operate 737s with winglets. Another carrier maybe?

Well, I have looked through the NTSB/FAA recent crash/incident reports and found nothing at IND on the 11th. I checked the local news paper and found a story on long taxi times and a Mega-mall planned near Indy airport. (Not even close) I even emailed three tv stations about it, one said they don't know anything about it. Haven't heard from the others. So I think my good friend is mistaken or it was another 737.

My friends meeting was rescheduled for later in the day. The UA service agent was just a poor employee. And my friend is going to write a letter of compliment to UA, about their poor service. And that it might of been a ERJ-170.